Making the most of Scotland’s infrastructure improvements

Actualités du secteur d’activité

Guildford, Surrey, U.K., 17 May 2010 – BOC’s state-of-the-art cylinder filling and distribution centre in Glasgow provided Scottish Cabinet Secretary John Swinney MSP with a concrete example of the benefits to Scotland of an integrated transport network. Mr Swinney visited the site at Cambuslang, relocated from across the city, as part of the M74 extension project.

The Cabinet Secretary, whose brief in the Scottish Government includes budgetary affairs, business and transport, was seeing for himself the progress being made on this key road network project as well as finding out how business would benefit. The EUR 520 million construction project is being managed by Transport Scotland, the executive agency responsible for the country’s major road networks.

BOC, a member of The Linde Group, provides industrial gases and services to over 18,000 customers across Scotland in virtually every market sector, from energy and shipbuilding to healthcare and food. Being able to respond to customer orders quickly and efficiently is vital to the company’s success in the Scottish market.

Nathan Palmer, BOC’s Sales Director, who accompanied the Cabinet Secretary on his visit, noted: “The M74 scheme has provided us with the opportunity to create a site appropriate for our business now and in the future. By locating the facility next to the new motorway link, we also have fast, modern links to our customers in Scotland as well as to the rest of Great Britain.”

When the company’s previous base in Glasgow, at Polmadie, was purchased to make way for the motorway link, BOC took the opportunity to create a new hub for its Scottish operations at Cambuslang, to the south of the city. The new facility, officially opened in 2007, incorporates best practice from around the world in gas-filling, vehicle movements and safety.

As he toured the site, John Swinney commented: “The Scottish Government is investing significant sums in road and rail here in the west of Scotland and across the rest of the country, which is supporting economic growth and helping accelerate recovery. And businesses like BOC have clearly seen the benefits to their operations in being located next to the new road scheme, helping them get their products to customers quicker, in turn enhancing their competitiveness and creating further expansion and job creation opportunities for them.”

Notes to editors

An image is available to accompany this release. Please contact Simon Napper in the BOC Communications Team. Tel: 07500 815166. Email: simon.napper@boc.com

BOC is a member of The Linde Group. An industrial, medical and special gases provider, the company supplies compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment. For more than a century the company's gases and expertise have contributed to advances in many areas of everyday life, and industries including steelmaking, refining, chemical processing, environmental protection, wastewater treatment, welding and cutting, food processing and distribution, glass production, electronics and health care. For more information visit: www.BOConline.co.uk

The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 48,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2009 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 11.2 billion. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development. For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency responsible for trunk roads, rail and national concessionary travel. It is an Executive agency directly accountable to Scottish Ministers and came into effect on 1 January 2006. For further information visit www.transportscotland.gov.uk